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Immigration Canada says 10 Ugandan activists seeking visitor visas can resubmit more detailed applications after initially being rejected to come to Toronto this June for a World Pride human rights conference.

“Citizenship and Immigration Canada will continue to do everything it can, under our immigration laws, to make this conference a success,” said Minister Chris Alexander.

Gay rights advocates were quick to condemn the decisions and found the situation shocking given the Canadian government has been outspoken on Uganda’s treatment of homosexuals and its strict anti-gay laws.

The 10 visa seekers, male and female, were invited to be part of the 400 delegates from around the world for the June 25-27 conference at the University of Toronto.

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Just one Ugandan, award-winning Frank Mugisha who is the conference keynote speaker, has a valid visitor’s visa.

Other visa applications from the Ugandan group were denied for several reasons, including family ties here and lack of funds for the trip to Toronto. Officials also questioned if the activists had legitimate business purposes here in Canada.

Immigration Canada says it understands people are upset when visas are denied, but the onus is on them to provide the proper documentation.

Immigrations officials say they have been working with conference organizers since last fall on the visa process for international delegates, and continue to assist.

“Our Conservative government was among the first to speak out against state-sponsored homophobia in Russia,” said Alexander in a written statement sent to the Star on Saturday.

“We welcome resettled gay refugees from Iran and around the world. We have led the international response to repression of the LGBT community in Uganda and elsewhere in Africa.

“Under Canadian law, decisions on individual visa applications are made by highly-trained public servants.”

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